Moonshine Designs Nursery offers quality vegetable, herb, shrub, tree, and flower seeds as well as a large selection of Bittersweet, landscape shrubs, trees, herbs, and perennials. Many are unusual and/or hard to find. We also offer ProvenWinner® ColorChoice® flowering shrubs, ProvenWinner® perennials, as well as several ProvenSelections®! You will also find some unusual décor items, as well.

Moonshine Designs Nursery is an independent, family owned company. Most all trees, shrubs, perennials, herbs, and vines are container grown right here in Zone 5a.

ProvenWinner® Certified Garden Center

Internet based, Phone, Mail, and fax orders are welcome.

Moonshine Designs Nursery is proud to be a member of the Illinois Nurseryman Association. We are licensed and inspected by the State of Illinois Department of Agriculture. We stand behind what we sell!

Comments:

In April and May of 2011 we placed two orders for 45 gallon-sized sky rocket junipers. The first order of 35 was received in less than a week. The second order of 10 junipers took just over a week. The 35 junipers came in two large boxes with damp newspaper. The junipers were bare root and looked to be in good health. Their size fit the 16-30" description provided by Moonshine. All were planted per nursery instructions in well drained soil along the back fence of our home. These junipers have been in the ground for 3 years and 3 months and are finishing their fourth Colorado summer (zone 5, 4600 ft elevation). They look fantastic! We haven't lost even one tree. Over half have cleared our 6 foot fence. Some, that are in sections that receive more shade, have been slower growers but they are healthy. During the past 3 years we've had some heavy snows (broke off half of the 15 year old Maple just 10 feet away) but these have weathered the storms well. In the first winter, we certainly babied them along, clearing snow off quickly. I simply couldn't be happier with our trees and Moonshine Nursery.

I have now ordered twice from this nursery and have been absolutely delighted with their speed in delivery and wonderful stock. Each plant (Snowball bush, Pink beauty bush, little lime hydrangea, and Miss Kim lilac bush) has been nice sized and healthy looking. The plants are all alive and thriving. I highly recommend them and will be ordering from them again.

Posted on June 29, 2008, updated February 16, 2014
I discovered Moonshine Design Nursery on Ebay several years ago. I just found out that they have a website and a Watchdog Profile. Fascinating company and I've always wanted to order from them again but haven't been able to. The order I won on Ebay was for 25 silky dogwood plants in a 2-3 gallon size. I bought these for my father who was trying to find something to creat a hedgerow for nesting birds. The plants arrived bareroot and were unbelieveably large. I don't know who was more shocked, my dad or myself. Figuring out the total cost and shipping, the plants I believe averaged out to around 2.50 or so per plant. THAT IS CHEAP. But they were so strong and healthy looking. Today, most are still alive, however deer keep grazing on them but they have gained considerable size.

One day I hope to order from Moonshine Design again. They make online ordering a pleasant experience.On February 16th, 2014, glen74 added the following:

I have placed a few small orders with Moonshine Designs over the last couple of years and getting ready to place another order. I have bought a couple of roses and winterberry plants from Moonshine. Never disappointed. The roses were much larger and fuller than I expected and ditto for the winterberries. The two 'Winter Red' Ilex are thriving but the 'Southern Gentleman' will have to be replaced. It succumbed to the drought of 2012. The roses ('The Fairy' and several of the Oso-Easy clan) are all alive and at or near full size.

Twice I've ordered privet from Moonshine design. They sent me one or two more than ordered and all the plants were healthy. I've planted about 160 of their privet and only 3 have died. Not a bad track record!

Posted on June 14, 2011, updated June 6, 2013
Ordered Castle Spire hollies in 2010 and again in 2011. Nice looking plants. Pleasure to do business with. Will order from again.On June 6th, 2013, dennyboy34 changed the rating from positive to negative and added the following:

Ordered additional Castle Spire Hollies based on past good experience. These were shipped to me DOA with brown leaves and branches, and some had no leaves. These are supposed to be EVERGREEN...I was given a b.s. statement that these were "dormant". I have many of these in my yard, and they do NOT lose 100% of their leaves in the winter...what evergreen does? I gave them a month of TLC, but they did not resurrect (what a surprise). Contacted Moonshine for a refund or replacement and received NO response. Nice way to treat a repeat customer! Will take these guys off my list permanently. Will NEVER order from again. I suggest you do too.

8/28/12 - I received an email from the company confirming my order (3 different ninebarks, one weigela, and one tiger eye sumac - $93.75).

9/9/12 - I received an email from the company notifying me my order had been shipped.

I do not recall how long they were in transit (what date they arrived). The items arrived in poor condition, wilted, and leaves turning brown. The tiger eye sumac had little more than a stub for roots. I was shocked at how bad they looked.

9/24/12 - I emailed the company to let them know the order had not arrived in acceptable condition.

They never responded to this email. I planted the lot, hoping they would recover. In the spring, all but the tiger eye sumac came back to life.

5/17/13 - I emailed the company again to let them know the sumac had arrived in poor condition and never grew.

They have never responded to either of my emails.

I do thousands of dollars in mail order plants each year. Many things can and do go wrong, but one thing I won't tolerate is a total lack of communication. This company is now on my "never use again" list (a very short list, I might add).

I bought three woody shrubs in mid-April 2012, from Moonshine Designs Nursery via EBay.
They shipped the plants so ultra-fast, I hadn't even decided where to plant them yet. The plants were in perfect condition, and packaged more carefully than any other plants I've ever bought by mail order. And that's saying a lot because I've been buying nursery stock for more than 40 years. I've been getting more and more unhappy with the plants I order from catalogs because the quality of plants has been deteriorating progressively as the years pass, and some take so long in shipping they are dead when they arrive, if not when they were sent. That is why I decided to give an EBay merchant a try.
I was really delighted with the quality of the plants I got from Moonshine Designs Nursery. If they don't grow it will be totally my fault. My husband said I should publish their praise; thus this review.
We have had our growing zone upgraded from Zone 4 to Zone 5 this year, and I wanted to try some plants I never could grow before, but have always wanted to. They are not available locally yet, so mail order was my only option. I know I'm experimenting and they may winter-kill; but these healthy shrubs will have a better chance than what I could have got anywhere else.
I would recommend Moonshine Designs nursery stock above any other I have seen. The plants are not as large as some places offer but they are definitely healthier. My thanks to them!
The only problem I saw was that your orders will not be automatically combined for shipping by their automated ordering system, so you have to contact the seller with instructions to ship orders together before you pay on EBay. Otherwise you end up paying individual shipping on each item.

I have been purchasing plants from this company for the
past few years.
Their prices are great, customer service is outstanding
and their plants arrive nicely packaged, nice size, and
in great shape.
I email them about this - decided to put my experience
with them at Daves Garden for others to see.

I ordered a couple of hydrangeas from Moonshine Designs. They were supposed to arrive in 3 days, but UPS had a weather-related delay and they didn't get here for 8 days! I was expecting them to be dead and totally dried out when I opened them. However, Moonshine Designs had packed them very well and gave them adequate water--they were still very alive and moist upon arrival.
This is the second time I've ordered from them and I've been very pleased both times.

Posted on September 25, 2010, updated May 21, 2011
Ordered seven shrubs. Plants were good-sized, healthy, and shipped semi-bare root. A week after planting, new buds are forming. Would order from again.On May 21st, 2011, linette2001 added the following:

Just got the last of my second order - 8 weigela and 3 buddleia shrubs. They have taken off with new growth and two of my weigela have already flowered. All my shrubs from last summer are doing well with gorgeous orange flowers from my flowering quince.

Moonshine's page asks that you contact them if a problem before posting here. I did that and they did not respond. I purchased 4 trees from 4 different nurseries - only Moonshine's arrived in a very stressed state and it may not take. Shows this tree was in a sad state before they shipped it. I ordered a Witch Hazel from Moonshine. I ordered a Witch Hazel, a Walking Stick and a red bark maple from 3 other places. The other 3 arrived as if they had never even been sent they were in perfect shape. Moonshines tree ball was wrapped in saran wrap and the soil was all over the box and the leaves were either dead or dying and the root ball was dry. As I said, I wrote but have heard nothing so I'm forced to post a warning. Be smart and purchase elsewhere - for me, I'll stick with Wayside, Jackson and Perkins and Rarefind since they have superior shipping methods and first class product - oh, I even paid extra for my moonshine purchase - what a waste of money. Had they sent a replacement or refunded me, I'd then have said they were true to their word and worth purchasing in the future from. Oh, I'm 69 and have purchased many trees in my time and never have I been ignored by a nursery if something arrived in the state that this purchase is. I did plant it but it sure looks sickly.Company representative comment on September 29, 2010:On Sep 29, 2010 7:01 PM, Moonshine Designs Nursery responded with:

Wehave not received any communication regarding any problems with Witch Hazel from anyone. Neither by phone, mail, or email.

I am a new gardner.... but an old consumer. I was disgusted with seeing the exact same plants in every landscape and searched for something different. So I ventured online. I read and re-read...(and re-read) the reviews I found here...then.. noticed Moonshine Designs on Ebay.. and read all of the reviews. Everyone raved and so I decided to give it a go. I am very pleased with my experience with Moonshine Designs and look forward to future purchases with them. They sale HUGE plants at reasonable prices and fair shipping. i purchased 3 Winter Red Winterberries ...
I was also very pleased with the interaction and communication with Moonshine Designs. I asked several newbie questions via email and always got an answer (usually within 12 hours... never longer than 24.) I am so glad to have found a company that stands behind their product and strives delivers on their promises.... Exhale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Thanks Kim

I've been looking for the reblooming Josee Lilac hi and lo, everywhere I can recall. Finally someone told me about Moonshine Nursery might have some and bamm, to my surprise, they have the mature size (5-gallon) Josee Lilacs I was looking for.

Order the 1st one, they shipped semi-bareroots out of the pot, the plant was loaded with blooms, amazingly packed, not a single broken branch. Very reasonable shipping fees and super fast in processing the order (ordered on Sat. Shipped on Monday, received on Weds/Thurs).

Was so happy with the 1st order that I order a second 5-G Josee the following week for my sister's garden, along with a 5-G size Incrediball Hydrangea. The plants arrived today, again, not a broken branch for the lilac, loaded with blooms, the Hydrangea is huge and heavy, and yet only a few wilted leaves (but that's absolutely normal with my experience of Hydrangeas have to ship across the country).

I couldn't be happier with my purchases.

Highly recommended, esp if you are looking for a Josee Lilac (Josee Lilacs are difficult to find to start with, and most people would sell you a stick in a 4-inch pot for 20 bucks or 25 bucks for a gallon size plant..getting mature plants like those in 3 or 5 gallon pots are next to impossible elsewhere in the mkt).

Bought 8 of the brand new Fine Wine Weigela through Buy It Now on ebay. Fixed rate shipping was over $50 LESS than some of the older companies, which kind of worried me. Plants arrived promptly and are in EXCELLENT shape, large and leafy and looking nicer than those at the local garden center that are 3x the price. The difference in shipping is because the gallon-grown plants were removed from the pots, but roots retain their soil, the whole root system and soil wrapped with lightweight plastic wrap. Innovative, practical, effective. I'm a fan, will definitely buy from Moonshine again!

Over the spring and summer I placed two orders with Moonshine Designs Nursery for a total of about 15 shrubs. All were received healthy and not pot bound. All of the shrubs have settled in (with adequate water) and survived quite well. I had zero problems with ordering from Moonshine Designs Nursery and zero problems with their plants. I will order from them again.

Received my order a few weeks ago and everything looked rather good. I was pleasantly surprised at the large size of the shrubs I received. I order 1 Josee Lilac, Sambucus Elder
(Sutherland Gold), and 1 Physocarpus Ninebark (Coppertina). I was a little worried in the beginning about the coppertina, because of some dried leaves, but after a couple of days I started seeing new leaves amerging. All plants had really good root systems. I would not hesitate to order again from this company!

Ordered plant with the basic shipping method through USPS that they offered for LIVE plants. Very early in the morning the next day, a representative tells me that she will ship the plant with the shipping I selected but it is probably going to arrive dead. Why would they offer that method of shipping for LIVE plants if they know it is very likely they are going to die anyway? I immediately returned her email that morning requesting a refund and to cancel the order all together. The next day she then tells me that the order "already went out" (that morning) and it's too late to cancel my order but they did not give me any time to respond to her warning that it would die (which any logical person would then cancel the order). Come to find out my order was not shipped at the time they claim. Number one, the postmark on the package and number two, their shipping notification email did not go out to me until around 3pm. There was no tracking info provided but they did not provide this to me. The plant arrived our was already shipped dead. It is in really bad shape and it looks like it was cut up pretty bad before being sent. Poorly packaged just thrown in a box. Once she told me it would likely die with that shipping method, they gave me NO time to respond. Any sane person would cancel and not waste the money. I question the ethical practices of this business for telling a customer that the plant will arrive dead, then give them no time to respond, and ship it with that method anyway knowing it will arrive dead after they have warned the customer with no time to respond!!!Company representative comment on August 14, 2009:On Aug 13, 2009 9:15 PM, Moonshine Designs Nursery responded with:

We expected this from a person that cannot read or follow simple directions. The shipment was made a different method with no added charge to the customer although it cost us more to send it this way. You just can't please some people!

I've ordered from Moonshine Designs on more than one occasion and always been very satisfied with their products. The only bump in the road was a starter Issai Beautyberry which didn't make it through the bad winter we had here. A second one I ordered did and I replaced the former with a larger one. Both are doing great and I can see will be flowering soon.

Because they're relatively close to us, around 240 miles as the crow flies, it's not uncommon for a plant to arrive the day after receiving shipping notification.

I decided to leave a review after my most recent purchase, a 5 gallon Coppertina Ninebark. I was absolutely blown away by the plant I received. Still potted, nearly three feet tall, very well leafed out and already pruned to encourage fullness for next year. I took it across the street to show a neighbor I was so pleased. It was just beautiful and a great purchase simply because it's not a common plant here, the price and shipping were very reasonable and the item I received exceeded my expectations for mail order.

There are such a proliferation of mail order nurseries that the likelihood of using just one exclusively isn't very high. There will always be one that has something that another doesn't but Moonshine Designs will be the one of the first places I look.

The plants were shipped so quickly. I ordered 2 berry nice holly and I cant believe how beautiful they are. They had a good 2' or more height for a #1. I will definitely order more material from them in the future.

I ordered several plants which were delivered promptly. Everything looked good except for 2 of the butterfly bushes did not take. I let them know via email and I had a response from them within a day. Replacement plants were sent which were delivered to me within a week.

Just rec'd 3 of the most gorgeous big and healthy Berry Nice Winterberry plants from Moonshine Designs Nursery. They are in perfect condition, and much larger than I expected. I'll definitely be shopping there again, when they have anything I'm searching for. I wish that all online companies were this good!

I have ordered 3 different times from Moonshine Designs and have been very happy with the service and the plants. I had some Caryopteris die and found out that they have the best guarantee in the mail order industry - 365 days. The plant sizes are really nice also. I ordered a Coppertina and was really impressed with the size and the look of the plant. I ordered a 2 gallon size and it was just huge compared to what I had expected. Overall I wouldn't buy from any other mail order company if they carried everything that I wanted simply because their prices are reasonable and their guarantee cannot be beat.

June 4, 2009 I purchased Sunshine Blue Caryopteris (Bluebeard). I am very pleased with the size and the condition of this plant. It was healthy and nice sized. The packaging was great, not a hurt limb. My Bluebeard is doing great! The shipping time was quick. I will keep this company on my favorite list!

My wife ordered some arctic fire dogwoods from them on 5/20. A problem with the order form prevented my wife from completing her initial order (order # 004332). She called them up, where they stepped her through getting her order placed (order # 004333).

Yesterday morning I logged on to check my credit card statement. It appears that we were billed twice. One line looks like my wife's initial attempt got charged. Another line appears to be the successful order. No biggie - I just figured I could call them and they would make things right.

I give them a call on 5/26/09 at 11:35am CST and spoke with somebody that informed me that Roger would have to call me back after 4pm. I gave her my callback number. Nobody called back.

On 5/27/09 I tried calling at 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, and at 2pm. Nobody seems present to even answer their telephone - I get the answering machine each and every time. On my 11am attempt, I left them a message with my work telephone number. Shortly after that, I emailed them at sales@djroger.com.

At this point, I am going to give them a couple of more days to reach us. I'm hoping that they are just so swamped with customers that they don't have time to answer the phone or check email, and that tomorrow we will get the information that we need. I don't want to have to call my credit card company to do a chargeback. :(On May 27th, 2009, AlpineYJ changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following:

We finally got a phonecall! The credit was processed on 5/24. :) They got rained out, so the bushes didn't ship yet - but at least I am no longer worried about the credit. It's kind of a bummer that nobody was around to answer the phone today though.On June 6th, 2009, AlpineYJ changed the rating from neutral to negative and added the following:

The credit came through as promised from 004332, but order # 004333 still has not arrived. I emailed them 2 days ago, and have not received any responses. On their initial email (about the credit on May 27th), they mentioned that it would ship Monday (6/1). It is now Friday night (6/5), and nothing has arrived. No emails, no calls.. nothing.

They are in Illinois, and I am in Indiana - so if it had actually shipped (even the slow-boat to China) on Monday, I would have had them by Wednesday. I hate to leave negative feedback for people, but if this is the only way I can get any responses out of you - it's what I will do. A simple reply to an email or a quick phonecall would avoid all of this.

What gives?On June 6th, 2009, AlpineYJ changed the rating from negative to positive and added the following:

Ok, my wife got the tracking number in her inbox. All is well. Since it's my fault for not having her check her email (I was actually expecting some form of a response in mine), I will upgrade this to a positive rating. These guys did give me the refund I asked for, and did ship our order out to us (late, but it did ship).

All in all, I think even a little bit of communication would have solved a lot of this. Returning emails (even a brief 5 second one telling me: "Have your wife check her email you idiot!") or phonecalls would have definitely been nice. We aren't unreasonable and do realize that things come up. It's no biggie - people just want kept in the loop so they don't feel like they've been had.Company representative comment on May 27, 2009:On May 27, 2009 4:00 PM, Moonshine Designs Nursery responded with:

Credit was issued on 5/23. With the Holiday weekend, it may take some time for the credit to show on your statement. Transaction ID: 49601162
Approval Code: 027643

I purchased one plant from this seller, who I found through eBay. It arrived a week later. It was healthy and well developed, except that the main stalk was broken during shipment. I contacted the seller, and his only response was to prune it back and let it regrow in spring - which is probably perfectly reasonable advice, except that I'm a bit disappointed to have a less-than-perfect plant.

As a note, he seems to have a good stock of Color Choice type plants - and at pretty reasonable prices. If it weren't for the lukewarm response to my question, I'd be tempted to order a couple more plants from him.Company representative comment on October 7, 2008:On Oct 7, 2008 5:39 PM, Moonshine Designs Nursery added:

As noted in that eBay listing, shipping damage is the responsibility of the carrier and not us. The shipment was insured and the option was given to make a claim.

We were not really concerned since this was a Sambucus and we routinely cut them to the ground in the fall here in the nursery.

Oops!! I just realized that I never posted my review. I received a witch hazel and Annabelle hydrangea last spring & they're still doing well. I was pleased with shipping/packing, size & condition of plants, and accuracy/speed of order. Also, fair pricing for such nice potted plants. Extremely pleased. Would order again.

I ordered 2 Rugosa Roses and 2 days later they were at my door. They were packaged very well with the dirt around the roots and plastic wrap around them. The rugosa's were 2 to 3 feet tall. They are very healthy and had fruit on them. I am very impressed with this company as I have been ordering plants for the past couple of years and you never seem to know what you are going to end up with. I will be ordering from them again.

My review is from my experiece last year -- I just found this feedback area today and wanted to relate my experiences with working with Moonshine Nursery. I found them to be excellent, both in quality and customer satisfaction. My order arrived in a timely manner, but evidently had been damaged by that late frost we had last year. I went ahead and planted the lilac plants and sure enough no sign of life after a few weeks. I emailed the company and they immediately replaced all 4 plants. The dwarf almond I bought is great and I will definitely order from them again in the future.

I purchased a very large shrubery order from them on Ebay.
The plants were quickly shipped. The packing was superb. The quality of the plants is first rate. The prices for the large size plants are excellent. You can't go wrong here!!!

I just received 4 red sprite.1 castle wall, 3 castle spire and 1 jim dandy. Superbly packaged,promptly delivered and all of good sizes and an excellent root formation. I am so impressed I just sent in another order for 150 dollars. Very resonable shipping.On August 7th, 2008, tfinne added the following:

The 3 chokeberry's that I recieved in April all died. I was so busy in my garden that I never asked for replacements. When things slowed down I looked up my order and found that they were guaranteed for a few more days still ( 90 days). I contacted Roger (phone message) and he promptly replied and said they would go out on Monday. Well they had storms go through the area which delayed the shipping but true to his word I recieved 3 beautiful replacements. It has been my experience with them that their customer service, quality and prices are superior to all other mail-order companies that I have dealt with so far. I highly recomend them.

Because of the positive reviews on this website and eBay, I purchased 16 Red Brilliantissima Chokeberries and 2 Josee Lilacs. First of all, the lilacs were great. One was very healthy and vigorous (and even had a bloom) and the other was perfectly acceptable. My problem is with the chokeberries. The description states that the plants are 20-30" tall. These plants average 17" (this is not subjective - I measured) and they are not full. In general, they have 2 to 3 stems. I wrote to Moonshine and included pictures (with a ruler for scale). I phrased the note as objectively as possible and stated my concerns without attacking the company.

Although they responded promptly, the email started "Apparently you have not had a hard freeze where you live yet". No greeting, just what I considered a defensive attitude. They indicated that the plants had dropped leaves because it is fall and that the height was due to late season pruning. Although I understand that the stems were bare (this was not my issue), the plants had NOT been pruned. There were no cut marks indicative of pruning. I also thought that only 2 or 3 stems was unacceptable. My main problem is that they were so short, despite the description clearly stating a varying height between 20 and 30". Second issue is that they were not full. They indicated that I could return the plants but that, basically, any replacements would look the same.

I responded to their email and explanation, but have not received a second response. It is not worth pursuing further, but I'm very unhappy with the plants and the response to my initial complaint. I spent over $200 with this company but will not be ordering from them again.On November 8th, 2007, hayesjdr changed the rating from negative to positive and added the following:

I was a bit premature in leaving a negative review. Roger got back to me after a few days (had been out of the office on a family emergency) and was very apologetic about the plants. Apparently, they had been pulled from the wrong area. He immediately shipped out all new, much larger plants. He did everything in his power to make this a good experience for me and I really appreciate it. Now I know why Moonshine gets such good reviews...

I placed an order for 1 Jossee Lilac. It didn't come so I contacted them, they said they needed the order number so when I located the number I left a message for Roger and the lilac was sent the next day. It is very nice quality and even had a bloom. I'm happy with my order and will place more. They get back with you right away and are nice to do business with.

I ordered A Blue Satin Rose of Sharon and I got it today, I'm very pleased with it, it even has blooms on it :-)) I will order again from Moonshine Designs and Highly recommand them to anyone wishing to buy plants on line..A+++...Tammy K